Mount

ABSTRACT

A mount for strip indexes and the like is a one-piece moulding in plastics material, e.g., polypropylene having a rectangular central planar part for supporting a strip or the like held by the mount, an overhanging ledge on each of the edges of the central part to entrap the ends of the strips, and means available for mounting the mount in an assembly such as a looseleaf binder. The sheet portion is made foraminate or perforatable so that its area may be sub-divided by plugging a divider strip or strips into the holes. The overhanging ledges are provided on each of the two faces of the mount.

United States Patent 1191 Stevens et al.

[4 Oct. 9, 1973 MOUNT 526,634 9/1940 Great Britain 40/104.19 1,111,148 7/1961 Germany ..40/1o4.19

[76] lnvemors- Arthur 623% 1,258,387 1/1968 Germany 40/l04.19

Esplanade; Ronald Alan Tappy, 9, Dent-de-Lion Rd., both of Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, England Primary Examiner-Robert W. Michell Assistant Examiner-J. H. Wolff AttorneyLackenbach & Lackenbach [57] ABSTRACT A mount for strip indexes and the like is a one-piece moulding in plastics material, e.g., polypropylene having a rectangular central planar part for supporting a strip or the like held by the mount, an overhanging ledge on each of the edges of the central part to entrap the ends of the strips, and means available for mounting the mount in an assembly such as a looseleaf binder. The sheet portion is made foraminate or perforatable so that its area may be sub-divided by plugging a divider strip or strips into the holes. The overhanging ledges areprovided on each of the two faces of the mount.

6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEU 9 3 763 582 ARTHUR WILLLAM STEVENS RONALD ALAN TAPPY INVENTORS ATTORNEYS PAIENTEDUET 91w 3.763.582

ARTHUR WILLIAMSTEVENS RONALD ALAN TAPPY INVENTORS ATTORNEYS MOUNT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to mounts, for use for example for accommodating elements indexing strips used in records systems. As will appear, the mounts may be used for holding and supporting any suitable (usually sheet) material, for record, storage or display purposes.

It is known to hold elements such as indexing strips in a mount by inserting specially provided lugs at their central portions into appropriately spaced slits in a onepiece mount. This system is particularly useful for fast moving record systems, but is not adaptable in the sense that only specially prepared and formed strips can be used, and only one size of these. The mounting sheet is of cardboard or the like, is liable to wear and needs reinforcement where it is bound into a book or other assembly.

On the other hand, end-held strips have been mounted in composite mounts, e.g., a backing board or sheet of carboard or the like having metal ledge strips secured to it parallel to its major edges to provide overhanging ledges under which the ends of the strips are entrapped. But this is an undesirably clumsy arrangement and is liable to form very heavy books or other assemblies.

ABSTRACT OF THE INVENTION The invention provides a one piece mount, for the end-holding of elements such as index strips and the like, made by moulding in a plastics material. The use of plastics material in this way allows radical departures from the practice of the prior art. It permits, for example, the foramination of most of the area of the mount for lightness, while keeping a necessary degree of rigidity. It permits the strengthening integrally of the parts where the mount is to be mounted in an assembly. It permits the ledges provided to overhang and entrap or grip a mounting portion such as the ends of the strips to be held to be at the same time slightly resilient, strong, and not liable to detach themselves from the mount as a whole. It permits in a particularly convenient way the provision of such ledges on each of the two faces of the mount.

The availability of apertures or perforations over a large part of the area of the mount (at least within the ledges which hold the ends of the strips or the like) allows the attachment of additional components to the mount. For instance the area between the ledges may be subdivided temporarily by dividers having lugs which .plug tightly into some of the apertures or pass through theapertures and plug into a corresponding divider on the other side of the mount, so that many sizes of strip may then be accommodated, even in one mount.

The use of plastics enables a bead to be moulded integrally onto the edge of the mount which,'apart from strengthening the mount and making it pleasant to handle, is available for positioning clip-on labelling tabs for classifying purposes.

The use of plastics enables also the means for mounting it into an assembly to be made highly adaptable. By

' this we mean that apertures may be provided along a very large portion of one edge of the mount, so that the mount is able to be assembled in any one of a large number of differenct types of ring binder. This cannot be done in many materials because there would be two' serious a weakening in the line in which these apertures are provided.

Two forms of mount in accordance with the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the mount;

FIG. 2 'is an enlarged section on the line AA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section on the line BB of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged plan view of one corner of the mount of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a part plan view of a slightly modified mount, only a part of the sheet providing the backing surface being shown; and

FIG. 6 is a section on the line CC of FIG. 6.

As shown in the drawings, the mount 1 is a one-piece moulding, for example of polypropylene, and has a sheet or backing member, 10 having on each side a backing surface 11 surrounded by four overhanging ledges 2,4,6 and 8 which form with the backing surface 11, channels or grooves 9 which can receive and entrap or grip mounting portions of elements such as indexing strips. Two indexing strips 13 are shown with their mounting portions or ends 13a entrapped in two of the channels. The sheet 10 is perforated over most of the region within the ledges 2,4,6,8 in order to lighten the mount, and to allow the attachement of additional components to the mount.

The ledges 2,4,6,8 have the cross section shown in FIG. 2 each having a channel base part or wall 14 and an arm 16 overlying, but spaced from, the adjacent edge portions of the backing surface 11.

The sheet 10 is formed with an outwardly extending flange 20 with a beaded edge 22 on three sides and on the fourth side a flange 26 provided with means for assembling the mount with a support, such as by having a number of holes 28 of various shapes and spacing by means of which the mount can be secured in a ring binder or some such loose-leaf binding device having rods to pass through the holes 28. The beaded edge 22 can be used to receive suitably formed labelling tabs or other indexing means. The flange 26 also has a beaded edge 27. Integrally the assembling means may further comprise moulded pivot pins 29a, 29b are provided at opposite ends of the flange 26 by means of which the mount can be supported in two suitably spaced apart opposed holes or channels. The bottom pin 29a is shorter than the top pin 29b so that the pins 29a, 29b can be inserted into opposed holes or channels which are spaced apart less than the overall distance between the extremities of the two pins.

In use, indexing strips, or other matter trapped against the backing surface 11 by the ledges 2,4,6,8 may lie horizontally between the ledges 2 and 6 or vertically between the ledges 4 and 8. Indexing strips may be inserted by turning them as a whole, or by bending them, to reduce their effective length so that the ends can be slipped under the ledges. In use, there is first inserted a blank indexing strip which falls to the bottom of the backing surface 1 l and is wholly or partly hidden behind the bottom ledge 8 (if the mount is arranged To subdivide the backing surface 11 there may be provided a divider member or members having lugs which fit tightly into the perforations in the sheet 10, to hold the member in place. A divider member 34 is shown in FIG. 1 extending vertically across the backing surface 11 from the ledge 8 and in position provides a channel between itself and the backing surface in which the end of an indexing strip 36 is trapped. The member 34 has lugs 38 inserted into the perforations in the sheet to hold it in place. Alternatively the divider member can have lugs which pass through the perforation in the sheet and plug into a corresponding divider member on the other side of the sheet.

FIG. 6 shows a central part of the sheet 40 providing the backing surface of a modified mount which is only different from the mount shown in FIG. 1 in that the sheet 40 is not perforated but has a number of cavities 42 on both sides, the cavities 42 being closed at the mid-plane of the sheet 40 by residual thin webs 44 l0l5 thousandths of an inch thick. If made of dark material, the sheet 40 is opaque, which is useful when indexing strips carried by the mount are being photographed. The webs 44 can be broken out of the sheet 40 to leave a hole perforation passing through the sheet 40 if it is desired to insert the lugs of a subdividing member as described above or attach another additional component to the mount.

We claim:

1. A mount for the end-mounting of strip-like material consisting of a unitary one-piece construction of plastics material comprising:

a rectangular sheet having two exposed faces, each face having a backing surface for abutting and supporting material to be mounted,

a pair of ledges on each face defining edges of the respective backing surface and extending parallel to and adjacent a pair of edges of the sheet,

each ledge of said pair of ledges having a generally L-shaped cross section such that a first leg of the ledge is normal to the sheet and the other leg is parallel to the sheet, said other legs of each pair of ledges being directed mutually towards each other to define between each first leg, the respective other leg and the backing surface a generally open and unobstructed channel for receiving and entrapping therewithin an end portion of the material to be mounted, the respective channels of each pair of ledges facing towards each other,

stop means for preventing escape of material to be mounted out of the channels in a direction parallel to said pair of edges of said sheet,

a regularly spaced grid-like array of foraminations accessible in common from each of the two backing surfaces in at least part of the backing surfaces,

one edge portion of the sheet outwardly of said backing surfaces defining a mounting flange provided with means for mounting the mount in an assembly of such mounts, and

an enlarged bead extending along the three remaining edges of said sheet outwardly of said backing surfaces.

2. Mount defined in claim 1 wherein said stop means comprises a second pair of ledges extending generally between the end portions of said first mentioned pair of ledges parallel a second pair of edges of said sheet and generally enclosing said backing surface, the respective pair of ledges on each face of said sheet being directly opposed through said sheet.

3. Mount defined in claim 2 wherein each ledge of said second pair of ledges has a generally L-shaped cross section such that a first leg of the ledge is normal to the sheet and the other leg is parallel to the sheet, said other legs of each of said second pair of ledges being directed mutually towards each other to define between each first leg, the respective other leg and the backing surface a generally open and unobstructed channel for receiving and entrapping therewithin an end portion of the material to be mounted between them, the respective channels of each said second pair of ledges facing towards each other.

4. Mount defined in claim 1 wherein said mounting flange is provided with a plurality of spaced apart apertures aligned closely adjacent said one edge portion of said sheet and bead-like reinforcing means adjacent each of said apertures.

5. A mount for the end-mounting of strip-like material consisting of a unitary one-piece construction of plastics material comprising:

a rectangular sheet having two exposed faces, each face having a backing surface for abutting and supporting material to be mounted,

a pair of ledges on each face defining edges of the respective backing surface and extending parallel to and adjacent a pair of edges of the sheet,

each ledge of said pair of ledges having a generally L-shaped cross section such that a first leg of the ledge is normal to the sheet and the other leg is parallel to the sheet, said other legs of each pair of ledges being directed mutually towards each other to define between each said first leg, the respective other leg and the backing surface a generally open and unobstructed channel for receiving and entrapping therewithin an end portion of the material to be mounted, the respective channels of each pair of ledges facing towards each other,

stop means for preventing escape of material to be mounted out of the channels in a direction parallel to said pair of edges of said sheet, and

a regularly spaced grid-like array of foraminations accessible in common from each of the two backing surfaces in at least part of the backing surfaces,

one edge portion of the sheet outwardly of said backing surfaces defing a mounting flange provided with means for mounting the mount in an assembly of such mounts;

in combination with at least one sub-divider strip,

said sub-divider strip comprising a straight elongate member offering outwardly directed auxiliary holding ledges along its elongate edges and having a plurality of projecting lugs spaced apart by a multiple of the spacing of the foraminations of said backing surface, said lugs being adapted to releasably engage with respective ones of said foraminations so that the auxiliary ledges are disposed opposite and parallel a pair of said L-shaped cross section ledges at any one of a plurality of positions between said L-shaped cross section ledges to define between said auxiliary holding ledges, the body of the subdivider strip and the backing surface a channel for receiving and entrapping an end of material to be mounted, the other end of which is to be received and entrapped by a said channel defined by an L-shaped cross section ledge.

to the said lugs and adapted to matingly receive said lugs projecting through to the said other backing surface, whereby the second sub-divider strip may be mounted correspondingly and oppositely said first suboutwardly directed auxiliary holding ledges along its 5 divider strip.

elongate edges, and apertures correspondingly placed 

1. A mount for the end-mounting of strip-like material consisting of a unitary one-piece construction of plastics material comprising: a rectangular sheet having two exposed faces, each face having a backing surface for abutting and supporting material to be mounted, a pair of ledges on each face defining edges of the respective backing surface and extending parallel to and adjacent a pair of edges of the sheet, each ledge of said pair of ledges having a generally L-shaped cross section such that a first leg of the ledge is normal to the sheet and the other leg is parallel to the sheet, said other legs of each pair of ledges being directed mutually towards each other to define between each first leg, the respective other leg and the backing surface a generally open and unobstructed channel for receiving and entrapping therewithin an end portion of the material to be mounted, the respective channels of each pair of ledges facing towards each other, stop means for preventing escape of material to be mounted out of the channels in a direction parallel to said pair of edges of said sheet, a regularly spaced grid-like array of foraminations accessible in common from each of the two backing surfaces in at least part of the backing surfaces, one edge portion of the sheet outwardly of said backing surfaces defining a mounting flange provided with means for mounting the mount in an assembly of such mounts, and an enlarged bead extending along the three remaining edges of said sheet outwardly of said backing surfaces.
 2. Mount defined in claim 1 wherein said stop means comprises a second pair of ledges extending generally between the end portions of said first mentioned pair of ledges parallel a second pair of edges of said sheet and generally enclosing said backing surface, the respective pair of ledges on each face of said sheet being directly opposed through said sheet.
 3. Mount defined in claim 2 wherein each ledge of said second pair of ledges has a generally L-shaped cross section such that a first leg of the ledge is normal to the sheet and the other leg is parallel to the sheet, said other legs of each of said second pair of ledges being directed mutually towards each other to define between each first leg, the respective other leg and the backing surface a generally open and unobstructed channel for receiving and entrapping therewithin an end portion of the material to be mounted between them, the respective channels of each said second pair of ledges facing towards each other.
 4. Mount defined in claim 1 wherein said mounting flange is provided with a plurality of spaced apart apertures aligned closely adjacent said one edge portion of said sheet and bead-like reinforcing means adjacent each of said apertures.
 5. A mount for the end-mounting of strip-like material consisting of a unitary one-piece construction of plastics material comprising: a rectangular sheet having two exposed faces, each face having a backing surface for abutting and supporting material to be mounted, a pair of ledges on each face defining edges of the respective backing surface and extending parallel to and adjacent a pair of edges of the sheet, each ledge of said pair of ledges having a generally L-shaped cross section such that a first leg of the ledge is normal to the sheet and the other leg is parallel to the sheet, said other legs of each pair of ledges being directed mutually towards each other to define between each said first leg, the respective other leg and the backing surface a generally open and unobstructed channel for receiving and entrapping therewithin an end portion of the material to be mounted, the respective channels of each pair of ledges facing towards each other, stop means for preventing escape of material to be mounted out of the channels in a direction parallel to said pair of edges of said sheet, and a regularly spaced grid-like array of foraminations accessible in common from each of the two backing surfaces in at least part of the backing surfaces, one edge portion of the sheet outwardly of said backing surfaces defing a mounting flange provided with means for mounting the mount in an assembly of such mounts; in combination with at least one sub-divider strip, said sub-divider strip comprising a straight elongate member offering outwardly directed auxiliary holding ledges along its elongate edges and having a plurality of projecting lugs spaced apart by a multiple of the spacing of the foraminations of said backing surface, said lugs being adapted to releasably engage with respective ones of said foraminations so that the auxiliary ledges are disposed opposite and parallel a pair of said L-shaped cross section ledges at any one of a plurality of positions between said L-shaped cross section ledges to define between said auxiliary holding ledges, the body of the subdivider strip and the backing surface a channel for receiving and entrapping an end of material to be mounted, the other end of which is to be received and entrapped by a said channel defined by an L-shaped cross section ledge.
 6. Mount defined in claim 5 wherein there is further provided a second sub-divider strip received on the other of said backing surfaces, the second sub-divider strip comprising a straight elongate member offering outwardly directed auxiliary holding ledges along its elongate edges, and apertures correspondingly placed to the said lugs and adapted to matingly receive said lugs projecting through to the said other backing surface, whereby the second sub-divider strip may be mounted correspondingly and oppositely said first sub-divider strip. 